Family therapy of schizophrenia

Family therapy has long been conceived and practised under etiological prem ises. Familial disturbances as pathological regression/fixation (psychoanal ytical) and individuation-impairing family dynamics (systemic) were address ed directly in the hope of "curing" the disorder. The efforts to prove the viability of the concepts and/or the efficacy of the therapeutic approach w ere largely unsuccessful, Newer strategies of family therapy of schizophren ia are both more precise in their theoretical assumptions and more performi ng in the pursuit of their therapeutic goals. We analyse the basis of moder n family therapy in the "Expressed-Emotions"-research and propose a newer, more adequate understanding of the EE phenomenon. From our own studies and from a general review of relevant studies we derive an understanding of the rationale of family work and family therapy of schizophrenia. We discuss t he results of a mete-analysis on the active ingredients and the conditions of efficacy of family interventions.